Weaver brings traditional ethnic dyeing crafts to outside world
In a
dyeing center located in Sanbao Dong stockade of Rongjiang county, Southwest
China's Guizhou Province, Lai Lei records various data on a pad including
temperature, humidity, air speed, and soaking time.
The
weaver seems more like a technician conducting a chemical experiment than
someone dyeing cloth.
Lai was
preparing to dye a batch of “24 solar terms cloths. For the last few thousand
years, Chinese people have used the ‘24 solar terms’ to guide their farming
methods.
Lai, 46,
organizes local women of various ethnic groups in Guizhou to weave traditional
Dong cloths with indigo dye. Their products have been exhibited in a number of
international fashion shows.
“I can create 24 different shades of blue
corresponding to the 24 solar terms,” she told the China Weekly in the dyeing center. “The blue appears in various
ways in different solar terms under different temperatures and climates.”
“On the
first day of the Spring Festival this year, which was the fifth day of the
Beginning of Spring, a green nuance can be seen in the indigo cloth, indicating
that spring is just around the corner,” she said.
Lai is
the fifth and youngest child of a farmer's family in Sanbao Dong stockade. Lai went
to study at Yunnan Arts University then returned to her hometown and became a
teacher for the next 15 years.
While
teaching in a Miao stockade in Rongjiang county, Lai found that her students
were particularly good at painting. This was because the stockade still retains
traditional wax painting and herb dyeing skills, which astonished her. She
decided to learn painting and dyeing from her students’ mothers.
After teaching
in the Miao stockade, Lai was transferred to the intangible cultural heritage
office of Rongjiang county. Because of her family tradition of weaving Dong
cloth, the drawing and dyeing skills learned from the Miao stockade, and her
job, Lai decided to be a Dong cloth weaver.
Daily living
In 2003,
Dong cloth weaving skills, wax dyeing and embroidery were included in a list of
national-level intangible cultural heritages.
When
more and more people started coming to Dong stockades in search of the handmade
natural cloth that embodied a return to nature and a simple life, Lai realized
that it was time to make an effort to hand down the weaving and dyeing skills,
otherwise they would be lost.
In 2005,
Lai and her mother started to learn and improve the traditional weaving and
dyeing skills in order to bring the products closer to people’s daily lives.
“If the
cloth we make can only be exhibited in museums, they would not deserve the
title of intangible cultural heritage,” said Lai. “I want it back to people’s
daily lives,” she said. “If they only pursue art, handicraftsmen will starve.”
“Mu Suo
Ren Jia” is the name of Lai’s textile workshop. In September, 2012, she
established the workshop with a loan of 80,000 yuan ($12,000) from a local
rural credit office.
Forty
local women joined the workshop, using traditional skills to produce cloth,
garments, purses, bedding and mats from the cotton planted in the area. The
products have been sold outside the mountain in big cities including Beijing
and Shanghai, and other countries such as the US and France.
In 2013,
after being granted 150,000 yuan in subsidies from the local rural credit
office for small and micro businesses, Lai decided to let the weavers work at
home, occasionally visiting them to collect the products. The move attracted
more than 300 women from various local ethnic groups including the Miao, Yao
and Dong, since this system allowed them to take care of the elderly and
children while working at home. “This job helps them grow in confidence and
self-esteem, since they become financially independent,” said Lai.
Passing down tradition
“I’m
actually from the first batch of young people to return home to start a
business. I came back to repay my family, who had scraped together money to
give me a better education, so I wanted to do something to benefit the
stockade,” said Lai. “I had planned to build a road for the village with my
savings, and then it occurred to me that organizing them to weave was a better
choice.” She then thought that with more and more young people working in the
city, the precious heritage passed down from their ancestors was in danger of
being lost.
“We were
so proud when our cloth first appeared in the Paris Fashion Week in 2013, and
people started to noticed that the cloth was from Rongjiang in Guizhou, which
is also indigo dyed,” said Lai. However, Lai has turned down opportunities to
work with top global luxury brands on many occasions, because they wanted her
to change the traditional weaving methods, and Lai believed this would not be
helpful in preserving Dong cloth weaving skills.
“I care
more about not losing the precious skills from my ancestors,” said Lai.
Source:Global Times/People’s Daily
Lai Lei dyes cloth corresponding
to the solar term for “Awakening of Insects” on March 6. (Photo: CFP)
Weaver brings traditional ethnic dyeing crafts to outside world
Reviewed by PEOPLES MAIL
on
08:39
Rating:
No comments: